An unexpected return
by Illuminaughty-Chip
Summary: Steven decides to bring his old friend Centipeetle back using his new healing powers, but he's about to have a big surprise ... After all the all Crystal monsters were once Gems . Now that his friends is back with such an unexpected appearance , Steven ,along with Connie ,will do his best to help her rediscovering her lost identity as a Gem and hide her from the Crystal Gems .
1. Chapter 1

" I have to be as quite as a shadow " Steven told to himself. " Like the Ninjas of the movies Connie showed me."

The child nodded , approving his own idea . For a moment he pictured himself imitating the hero's stealthy movements .

He had seen the movies at least five times, and had had also several occasion to see the Gems tactics to approach dangerous enemies without being noticed, at least at the beginning : Amethyst was a bit to impulsive to listen to Pearl's " boring planes ".

Though , It didn't matter for Steven . He was sure to have channeled enough experience to actually plan something by himself without having to seek for help.

The place that would have been the theater of his venture was a quite unusual place for a secret mission: his own home. And ironically that was what made things difficult. The gems never slept , and a wrong move could have called their attention.

Steven loved the gems, and they loved him. But that time, he wanted, _needed_ to act alone. They, especially Pearl wouldn't have approved his plan.

Quietly ,Steven descended the stairs that connect his bed to the floor and looked around , ears ready to catch any sounds. He didn't saw or heard anything , so he decided to move on, towards his destination : the temple.

Tap. Tap.

The kid turned around struggling to block a surprised gasp. For a moment his mind ran across a series of excuses to use in order to prevent his capturer from discovering the truth. Luckily for him, as soon as he turned back, the view was covered just by a fluffy , pink wall .

" Lion?"

The big feline looked into Steven eyes for moment, then he rubbed his nose on his shirt in an affectionate manner .

" Do you want to come with me Lion ? This is a serious rescue mission. We have to save a friend. "

The animal did not answer but advanced of few steps surpassing his small human.

" Hey , wait! I'm the one who indicate the way !"

He said trying to maintain a low tone.

After a bit, the child and his pet finally reached the destination. Steven looked around feeling pretty confident and proud. He turned toward his pet and hugged him with pure joy.

" We made it ! I'm finally going to save him."

For a moment it almost looked like Lion wanted to make a question to Steven. " Who is he ?"

The sale was filled with bubbled gems . Everyone would have described it as a beautiful view, but for Steven it was a sad scenario. He knew the truth about those gems, about how they had lost their forms and became corrupted …

The child tried to push away that thought, it wasn't the right moment to be sad. He was about to save a friend after all . After few minute , he finally found it: Centipeetle's gem.

Memories flashed through his mind, The kid remembered how he had befriended the small monster that in the end had died to save him. At the time, he wasn't able to do anything and had been forced to bubble it away, but now… now he had his saliva.

As strange as it sounded , it was the key to bring him back.

Hit healing powers.

Steven smiled again, already imaging the moment of their reunion.

The child looked up, the bubble was positioned in an high part of the room. He tried to climb , grabbing others bubbles .

" uff, it's more tiring than I thought … but I 'm almost there !"

Centipede's bubble was a few inches from him now. Steven was unstably holding himself on a big bubble that held a blue object. He stretched an hand trying to reach it. His fingers grasped the air , and for a moment managed to brush it. This gave him the courage to risk more, leaning closer to hit.

Steven breathed heavily , and concentrated himself .

When he felt the cold surface of the bubble on his palm an happy " yes" left him. Sadly the child had no time to be relieved, in matter of a second the world went upside down as he fell .

Steven gasped loudly , almost screaming . His free hand desperately searching something to grab .

He hit something. But it wasn't the floor. It was a soft, pink fur.

" Lion, you saved me !"

He said tears in his eyes.

Few seconds after that he had already recovered.

Steven unmade the bubble and for a moment stopped to contemplate the gem that had been his monstrous friend. Without waiting any more seconds , he licked it palm and slammed it on the gem's surface. Immediately something started to happen.

The rocks was covered with light and Steven lost his grasp in surprise.

But it didn't fall to the ground. Instead it started to float, a silhouette beginning to take form inside. But something was wrong.

It wasn't the monster's form Steven remembered .

At first, it resembled a manikin . _" Exactly like happened to Pearl and Lapis .."_ Thought the kid.

Then, in started to gain more human-like features . long hair, a dress , some kind of gem just under the neck, just a bit more higher than Amethyst's.

Steven was stoned, his eyes wide open.

Then in stopped, and the newborn creature fell on the ground unconscious .

For a seconds the child stood there, not knowing what to do. Centipeetle was a gem? It made sense, Pearl and the other had explained how these monsters were corrupted gems. But he never thought of his monster buddy like that , after he had met him before he had discovered that truth.

It didn't matter now.

The child ran toward what had once been Centipeetle .

" I'll take care of you. " Steven said, tears running though his face .

" I'm scared . "He admitted looking at Lion. " What do you think the gems would do to my friend ? Do we have to hide him…. Or her ?" Insecurity filled him, he didn't know how to refer to his friends. In truth he knew nothing. Did she or he , remembered about him?

"Lion, I need your help. We have to take Centipeetle to a safe place. "


	2. Chapter 2

HI there

First thing, I would like to thank you all for the feedback. When I published the first chapter I hadn't dared to hope for it to be so successful , I must admit it was a pleasant surprise. I put a lot of work in it, especially since English isn't even my first language ,but I'm happy with the result now.

I'll try to add a chapter at least once every three days, bye 3

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Now that the initial shock was over , Steven took a closer look of Centipeetle's new look. Even if it was difficult to tell in that position she seemed to be around the same height as Pearl. Her skin collected different shade of green, the same color of her gem ,her hair , that were almost identical to the one her previous self had had , elegantly surrounded her face which surprisingly delicate features were frozen in an expression between sleep and sorrow .

Noticing that Steven couldn't help but hug tighter whispering in a gentle tone. " Everything will be fine now."

It didn't matter if his friend had changed that much , he cared too much to care about that . The important thing was that she was back and alive.

Lion came closer and intensely stared into Steven's eyes. The child nodded and proceeded to place Centipleete on the feline's back , he tried to be as delicate as he could , and after he was sure the gem wouldn't have fallen, he sat behind her .

The kid patted Lion's back and quietly muttered a request:

" Please, bring as to a safe place."

Without emitting a sound, the animal began to move.

Silent as a shadow, Lion sneaked out of the house and immediately headed to somewhere . Steven wasn't worried about that, he totally believed in his pet, something else was bugging him .

They not only had to make sure Centipleete was fine, but they had to be back home before the dawn , otherwise the gems would have discovered his absence . He didn't really want to be grounded again. The kid looked up at the night sky, thousand of stars were shining and the moon was brighter than ever. It was a beautiful sight . Steven downed hi look meeting Centipleete's closed eyes ." I promise, next time you'll be awake to see this . We'll watch it tougher ." He sighed ." And I'll also introduce you to Connie, I'm sure You'll love her ."

Steven wasn't able to tell how much time they spent running , but after what it seemed like an eternity , Lion finally stopped . They were still on the cost, but his house was nowhere to be seen .

" We must be on the other side or something. " Thought the half gem .

In front of them stood a small cave . Lion brought them inside and yawned lying down to rest . The child jumped off and immediately proceeded to carry the unconscious deeper into the cave. He searched for the best spot and finally placed her .

She didn't wake up.

But Steven waited , and waited . Each minute seemed to heavier and slower , and soon hi joy began to move away to make space to something else: fear.

Fear that his friend might never wake up.

If anything she moved. Exactly like when the child was about to cry , the gem tried to turn toward him , muttering something in her sleep. This filled Steven with hope.

Sadly He didn't had much more time to spent there , the sun was just about to raise.

" Lion. I have to ask you something , something of _very_ Important. After you'll carry me home , you have to come back here and protect her. "

The feline blinked and Steven hoped that was his way to say yes.

As he disappeared on Lion's back , Steven didn't move his eyes from the cave . Was Centipleete fine?

The next morning Steven woke up to the sound of Pearl's voice. It looked like she was mad at Amethyst for some reason. Nothing unusual.

With a big yawn the child reached them.

" Steven". Pearl stopped scolding Amethyst as soon as she saw him . " You look tired ,it's anything wrong?"

" I ….Uhm had a nightmare . A very scary nightmare. "

" Really? Why was it so scary ? was there A Monster ? " Basically screamed Amethyst .

" Uhm Maybe . Do you want me tell you what was it abou?"

The purple gem basically screamed "Yes" while Pearl sighed deeply .

Steven was just relieved they hadn't noticed anything.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Somewhere in a cave, a lost gem woke.

Her eyes opened slowly , her head was heavy and hurt .

" where am I?" She whispered to herself.

She didn't remember anything .


	3. Chapter 3

After an hour or so, the gems left . It looked like some corrupted gems had been spotted somewhere . As soon as they disappeared in a wave of light, a particular thought hit Steven's mind monopolizing it : Centipeetle .

" What if she already woke up and is all alone ... with Lion ? Oh no , she must be soo scared ..."

He hadn't thought about this particular inconvenient . Imagining all the unfortunate scenario the lost gems could have been going through wasn't exactly helpful , so without hesitation the child ran away , mentally listing the things that could have been useful , especially stuff that could have helped his friends to remember . In few minutes everything had been stored into his beloved cheeseburger backpack and soon , Steven appeared on the front door carrying a confident look in his face and already planning his conversation with Centipeetle .

Hum, how could he start ? A part of him wanted to directly hug his friend and tell her how much he had missed her but ... Wouldn't that have scared her ? Well, he could always have a good idea during the way ...

The last consideration awoke in him awareness for a small detail ...

Lion wasn't there .

The child gasped , when the truth hit him with all his strength .

" What I'll do now ? I don't even know where the cave is ! It was too dark! " Steven almost screamed in frustration . "Why didn't I ask to Lion to come back in the morning ?"

,,,,,,

To Steven's luck Lion was a smart animal .

When he saw that the fragile gems had opened the eyes , the feline growled and a portal appeared in front of him, with a jump he was on the other side .

His small owner fell on the ground taken by surprise . The kid looked up at the pink creature as a giant smile slowly appeared on his face. " Lion , I 'm so happy to see you! Can you bring be there again ?" Steven asked petting the feline's back. Lion blinked and turned toward the still opened portal .

" Is she on the other side ?"

A deep look was his only answer . The child shrugged and crossed it. He immediately recognized the cave . If in is imagination he had ran without hesitation to embrace his old friend, now Steven couldn't help but stand still , too tense too move. " What if she don't remember anything ?"

As a rushing river all the memories of Lapis reached him. He remembered how the Crystal Gems had attacked her , and of the blue gem, that had always considered a friend , had ended up stealing the entire ocean and had almost drowned the all .

" This time nothing bad will happen." Steven told to himself as he started walking .

The child saw someone standing on the background .

" Centipeetle ? "

"""""""

She closed her eyes trying to recall something, but everything was gone.

Who was her ? why was she there ? Why was everything gone ?

Nothing, her memory was just an obscure hole, filled with darkness and new questions ,But no answers .

A sudden sound distracted her from her sorrow . Even if her eyes were tired and her sight hadn't totally cleared yet , the forgotten gem could see a silhouette in distance .

She didn't move , not having the strength or the will to do so . Slowly the incoming stranger gained a clear shape : Dark hair, rather short , chubby and a reassuring smile, no weapons . Maybe they were there to help ... A faint hope filled her .

" Centipeetle ?"

The meaning of the word was obscure to her, so why did it sound so familiar ? Was it the name of someone she knew?

The gem looked up, meeting the other gaze .

" Who ... Who are you ?"

The words came out in a whisper and for some reason, this awoke a curious reaction to the stranger . A shadow of sadness crossed his eyes for a moment , but it soon disappeared as he tried to smile again.

" I'm ... I'm Steven. Do you .."

He stopped in the middle of the sentence and looked down , the shadow reappearing . Why did he sound so sad ? A sudden worry crossed her still confused mind: did something of bad happen ? The echo of crush , coming from the darkest deep of her memory ,reached her along with a scream. The gem tried to recall the exact sound of the scream but failed.

" What happened ?Why ..I'm here ?"

She feared the answer, and it looked like he felt the same way.

" We were friend." The small one said , before quickly adding " ... But you weren't exactly like this ."

The gem opened more her eyes, that were of a wonderful shade of green and sent a rather confused look to het interlocutor .

" You were .. How can I explain ? A monster ? But you weren't evil you were just ... a bit weird looking? Yes, you had many legs, and were smaller and ..."

He sounded very confused, but she understood what it meant . A monster? Her gem must have cracked !

" Was I corrupted ?" She spelled out quickly.

" yes..." Steven looked to the ground .

" Why did that happened were we attacked ? Who are we ?"

This time he hesitated . " I don't know , when I found you, you were already that way... But we became friends ! And then You got hit, by a rock ... so I had to bring you back..."

Tears were crossing the gem's cheeks.

" So you saved me ..."

Her name was still a mystery but she had found something of more relevant. The accident was still shady but it was starting to clear up .

" ...Steven ?"

The name he had called it was starting to make sense ...

" Centipeetle was my name , isn't it?"

Author's note : I'd like to thank everyone who faved this story or posted a review , I can't explain how happy I'm seeing you're enjoying my story .

Update might get slower thanks to some incoming exams but I should be able to find some time to continue . My only worry for now is to find a new Beta reader, usually I have a friend who read my story before I publicize them, but she isn't very practical with English , so she can't help me with my non –Italian works .

If you're interested let me know, I'd appreciate this a lot


End file.
